My musings, reflections on life here in Shiloh, Israel. Original, personal, spiritual and political. Peace, security and Israeli sovereignty. While not a "group blog," Shiloh Musings includes the voices of other Jews in The Land of Israel.
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Selma’s working-class population of 22,800 includes a large number of immigrants. The small, friendly town’s economy in central California’s San Joaquin Valley is based on agriculture and built on generations of farming families. Despite the financial hardships, they stay to cultivate and harvest fields of grapes that earn Selma the title, “Raisin Capital of the World.” Eleven schools and 35 churches support both the young and elderly residents of the town, as do the local hospital and rural health clinics.

It is hard to imagine, but this little town has been the target of over 1,200 Qassam rockets since August 2005. In the past month alone, nearly 300 rockets assaulted the rural community, each one accompanied by the “Red Dawn” air raid warning system Selma initiated in 2001 when the first rockets hit. The “Red Dawn” announcement blares out of an elaborate intercom system installed in nearly every building and throughout residential neighborhoods. The warning allows residents between 15 and 60 seconds to find shelter before an incoming rocket blast. Every home, commercial building and school in Selma is built with a “safe room” or bomb shelter. In a town with 50 percent of its population over age 65 — and 3,000 children — less than 60 seconds is not always enough time to hide.

A Qassam (kah-SAHM) is a crude but lethal weapon designed to inflict maximum civilian casualties. Too crude to be aimed with any sort of precision, it has absolutely no military applications. It is useful only to murder civilians and terrorize survivors.

The Qassam’s power lies in the explosive payload stuffed in the rocket’s metal shell, which is then packed with more than 7,000 metal ball bearings. Each ball bearing, less than ¼ inch in diameter, has a blast force capable of tearing through human flesh with deadly effect. One ball bearing, in other words, can create a hole in the human liver sufficient to guarantee that the victim will bleed to death before reaching Selma Community Hospital just a mile away. A single ball bearing that penetrates the human skull might leave a devastating neurological injury…provided the victim survives long enough to demonstrate the damage.

Who would fire such a horrifying weapon — indeed, over three thousand since 2001 — at the peaceful residents of this central California town? Look no further than the terrorists elected to govern the citizens of nearby Fowler just four miles north of Selma on Highway 99.

Today is Jake Jacoby’s funeral. The entire city of Selma mourns the loss of the 43-year-old father of four whose life was taken earlier this week when Selma’s Blocklite manufacturing plant (where he worked as a concrete mason) sustained a direct Qassam hit. Blocklite built the concrete reinforcements that protect Selma’s kindergartens from incoming Qassams.

Jake’s co-workers survived to witness the destruction of the rocket’s impact. Immediately after the blast, despite their own injuries, they attempted to slow the bleeding from Jake’s head and torso. Doctors at the nearest trauma center (20 miles away in Fresno) also tried to save his life, but the ball bearings had done too much damage. He died within hours.

Jake’s 12-year-old son, Brandon, speaks to a reporter after his father’s memorial service, explaining why his family has chosen to remain in Selma despite the constant barrage of rockets:

"I love Selma very much, and I won't leave it because I love California. If I leave Selma, if all of Selma were evacuated, then the state would fall apart. The [terrorists in Fowler] will see that they are succeeding in Selma, and then they'll shoot Qassams at San Francisco and Los Angeles too, and do the same in the whole state until nothing is left."

* * *

The horrifying event described above actually happened. But it didn’t happen in Selma, California.

Change the names, travel 8,000 miles east, and visit the working-class town of Sderot, Israel. But be prepared to heed the Shahar Adom (“Red Dawn”) Qassam rocket warning system activated before every one of more than 1,200 attacks the community of 23,000 residents has endured since August 2005. Since 2001, the total number of rocket attacks sustained by Sderot is 3,000.

Sderot is a blue-collar town consisting largely of immigrants who escaped persecution in the former Soviet Union or starvation and sectarian violence in Ethiopia. The economy is based on agriculture — no easy feat in the arid soil and scorching climate of western Israel’s Negev desert. But neighbors help neighbors, and there is a strong sense of community often found among those who choose the small town life. There are eleven elementary schools, but playgrounds have remained empty since a Qassam took the life of 4-year-old Afik Zehavi as he played.

The need for Trauma Services, including counseling and support groups, overwhelms social workers in Sderot. Fifty percent of the town’s children under age five show signs of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Who would fire such a horrifying weapon — indeed, more than three thousand times — at the peaceful residents of this southern Israeli town? Look no further than the Hamas terrorists elected to govern the citizens of the Gaza Strip, just one kilometer west as the crow (or Qassam) flies.

On November 21, 2006, the chicken processing plant where 43-year-old Yaakov Yaakobov worked as a forklift operator was struck by a Qassam rocket launched by Hamas terrorists from a residential neighborhood in the Gaza Strip city of Beit Hanoun, six kilometers from Sderot. Yaakov suffered massive head trauma when shrapnel and ball bearings tore through his body. Hemorrhaging and unconscious, he was rushed to the nearest hospital (20 miles away in Beersheba), where he died within hours from the blast injury to his skull.

Yaakov’s son, Hanan, answered the question of a reporter after his father’s memorial service. Asked why his family had already decided to remain in Sderot despite the constant barrage of rockets under which they live, the 12-year-old boy whose father was just murdered by terrorists responded simply:

"I love Sderot very much, and I won't leave it because I love the State of Israel. If I leave Sderot, if all of Sderot were evacuated, then the country would fall apart. The Palestinians will see that they are succeeding in Sderot, and then they'll shoot Kassams at Ashkelon and Ashdod too, and do the same in the whole country until nothing is left."

* * *

Central California’s rural, friendly town of Selma is a special place. I am grateful to be a member of this small but close community. I am grateful that our neighbor to the north, Fowler, is a good one.

I am also grateful that not once since 2001 has a siren blaring “Red Dawn” disturbed Selma’s peaceful residents. Not a single Qassam rocket has destroyed a Selma building or torn through the body of any of the 23,000 residents calling the town home. Our homes and businesses do not have to furnish loudspeakers and bomb shelters for terrified citizens to cower in as our city is assaulted. We have not had to watch helplessly as our vineyards and fruit trees burn after the explosion of a Qassam’s payload. We have held no funerals for victims of terrorist attacks at Blocklite or Garfield Elementary School, and our Social Services deal with problems very different from that of four-year-olds whose entire lives have been punctuated by rocket blasts.

It is easy to digest news reports of terrorism victimizing faceless strangers in remote places. It is far more difficult to recognize that what distinguishes us from those who suffer is something as random as geography.

Dr. Halderman (www.drhalderman.com) is a Board-Certified General Surgeon practicing in rural south Fresno County.

Today is the 10th of Teveth, the day when Nebuchadnezzar - the king of Babylon - began his siege on Jerusalem, that culminated in the destruction of the First Holy Temple and the exile of our people. This is one of the four public fast days.

Our politicians here in Israel refuse to remember.

photo creditQassam lands in Negev kibbutz, damaging house; no one injuredPrime Minister Ehud Olmert gave the Israel Defense Forces permission on Wednesday to attack rocket-launching cells in the Gaza Strip as long as they are identified shortly before the launching, but the Prime Minister's Office said the Israeli commitment to the cease-fire in Gaza still stands. His decision to authorize only pinpoint operations while generally upholding a policy of restraint raised ire among senior IDF officers Thursday who argued that that the only effective way to curb rocket attacks was to send forces into the northern Gaza Strip.

Just verbalizing the word "evacuate" creates a new reality. Words have power. And "evacuate" is a dangerous word.The encroaching terrorism should never be victorious, but if G-d forbid, Sderot evacuates, it's a horrendous precedent.At the Begin Ceremony, an army friend of Emanuel Moreno , one of the other recipients spoke about heroism. He talked about the line attributed to Betar legend Joseph Trumpeldor, "Tov lamut l'Artzeinu," "It's good to die for our Land." I didn't take notes, so I hope that I remember what he said. It's not that dying is good. What's good is to have strong faith, belief, attachment to our Land and motivation.

Especially in the post-Disengagement Israel, these feelings are mocked by the government and media. Everything's disposable! Homes, schools, businesses and ...land, too.

Friday, December 29, 2006

Olmert's government should be called the National Cruelty Government. Each announcement and policy is worse than the previous one. There are/were those who thought that the inclusion of Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu Party would improve things. No way. Olmert's version of the "Midas Touch" turns people into selfish oportunists. Who ever touches Kadima becomes tainted. What else can explain:

MK Yitzchak Levy has written to the Prime Minister, asking for his personal intervention on behalf of a Gush Katif icon family being denied State compensation for having been expelled from its home.

Eliezer and Chana Bart lived in the Gush Katif community of Kfar Darom for over 18 years until they and their eight children were thrown out in accordance with Prime Minister Sharon's disengagement/expulsion plan. They have now been informed that as far as the government is concerned, they are not eligible for compensation.

Chana was paralyzed in the lower half of her body in a terrorist shooting attack in 2002, and has been confined to a wheelchair ever since. Two years later - a day after Sharon's bombshell announcement of his plan to throw the 8,000 Jews of Gaza out of their homes - Chana and Eliezer celebrated the brit [ritual circumcision] of their week-old son. They named him Amichai [My Nation Lives] Yisrael.

The scene of Chana carrying her baby to the brit in a wheelchair marked a poignant moment in Gush Kaif history, and was immortalized in films prior to the expulsion.

"The government is relating to us as if we were not expelled from Gush Katif," Eliezer told Arutz-7's Amatzia HaEitan. "This means that we're not receiving compensation for our house, or for the years we lived there, or rent money for the two years following the expulsion, moving expenses, etc."

On what basis has the Disengagement Authority made this determination? Bart explained:"In Nov. 2003, just after the major bomb attack on the bus in which Miri Amitai and Gabi Biton were killed [and the three Cohen children lost limbs - ed.], we and some other families moved into new houses, adding some security to Kfar Darom by pushing the fence back a little to the south. The government claims that our house was not on recognized land - and therefore it's as if we didn't live there.

"However, the fact is that when we moved in, we had talks with the Arab neighbors in order to buy the land - I was one of those who had the merit of dealing with it - and in the end, we bought the land legally and received title to the land, as well as all the necessary permits and authorizations to build there. We gave all the papers to the Disengagement Authority - but the problem is that their approach is negative, always looking how not to pay and how to find clauses by which not to pay us. They never explained why the papers we gave them are not relevant, but it doesn't matter; we lived in Kfar Darom over 18 years, our 8 children were born there, and we were thrown out...

"The house at issue was planned according to the exact specifications of my wife Chana's needs, with wide doors for the wheelchair and the counters at the right height, etc."

MK Rabbi Yitzchak Levy (National Union) wrote a personal letter to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, strongly asking that he intervene personally in the Bart case. "The abuse of the Bart family must be stopped immediately," Levy wrote, "as well as of the other families. I ask you to correct this injustice immediately."

Eliezer said that the houses that were built across from him do not face the same problem, "as they were built on state-owned lands known as the King's Way, on which the Tel Aviv-Cairo train tracks were once located."

Eliezer repeated the charge heard by others who were thrown out of Gush Katif: "It's a terrible feeling to see respected and well-educated people sitting on the Disengaement Authority committee, yet they have no heart. They simply treat us coldly and with great hostility... On a personal level, we invested all the money that we had - the money we received for the injuries caused to Chana, and many loans, in order to help our family live."

The Disengagement Authority can be faxed at 02 (or +972 from abroad) 652-9217. For those who cannot fax, email is second-best: "sela@sela.pmo.gov.il"

There are no true civil rights for Jews, even in the State of Israel. A "secret law" was passed by MK's who weren't even allowed to read it.

Friday, December 29, 2006KNESSET APPROVES DRACONIAN REGULATIONS WITHOUT RIGHT OF PERUSAL

JERUSALEM -- Israel's parliament has approved draconian measures against Jewish opponents of the government's withdrawal policy without being allowed to read the document. The government measures, said to remain in effect today, were approved by a special Knesset committee in late 2005 in a closed session. Attorney General Menachem Mazuz, who helped draft the proposals allowed only one parliamentarian to review the document, which enabled the detention of thousands of people, many of them without formal charges. "The police have issued guidelines to the prosecutors and to the police prosecutors in regard to implementation of the Disengagement [withdrawal] plan and they said that these guidelines are secret," Knesset member Michael Eitan, then chairman of the Constitution and Law Committee, said. Eitan led the meeting of the committee during a secret session on Aug. 7, 2005, on the eve of the Israeli expulsion of 16,000 Jews from the GazaStrip and northern West Bank. During the meeting, a transcript of which was recently obtained, Eitan acknowledged that the regulations proposed by Mazuz were draconian and violated civil rights. "I received a complaint that the police have issued draconian guidelines to act in a certain way against demonstrators," Eitan said. "And there is a prosecution policy that was especially tailored to repress the demonstrators and to harm their rights." In April 2005, Mazuz, who quashed a police investigation into corruption by then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, issued a secret four-page guideline to police, prosecutors and judges regarding efforts to counter the campaign to block the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank. The document included the use of administrative detentions, or imprisonment without charges, the treatment of minors as adults and the arrest of peaceful protesters. "A fight that is ideologically-motivated causes all parties involved to become more radical," Mazuz told the Israel Bar Association in May 2005. "This forces us to monitor the process on a daily basis." "The courts have demonstrated a stern approach and approved most of our requests for arrests, including arrests until the end of judicial proceedings," Mazuz added. Officials said the guidelines enabled the arrest and imprisonment of about 4,000 Jewish opponents of the Sharon government by September 2005. They said many of them were ordered to be held for months until trial. "They arrested people collectively," attorney Gadi Tal, who has represented anti-government defendants, said. "No judge checked to see the evidence up front. The worst cases were during the Disengagement: A minor who sat a week in jail and no indictment was issued against him. On the face of it, there was no evidence. From the outset they shouldn't have been jailed." In August 2005, Deputy State Prosecutor Shai Nitzan told the Knesset Law and Constitution Committee that his office issued 634 indictments against withdrawal protesters. Nitzan said that more than 200 of them were against minors. The State Prosecutor has acknowledged that authorities have operated in accordance to the secret guidelines. A spokeswoman said the guidelines remain classified nearly 18 months after the withdrawal. "The state prosecutor's office issued specific guidelines for internal use, which were not meant to be published," Justice Ministry spokeswoman Ganit Ben-Moshe told Israeljustice.com. "The guidelines were presented in full before the subcommittee of the Knesset Constitution and Law Committee. The guidelines were then presented with some paragraphs erased to the entire committee." But the transcript of the August 2005 session of the Knesset committee asserted that only Eitan had access to the redacted document. During the hearing, Eitan, who termed Mazuz's secrecy requirements "ludicrous," read portions of the proposed legislation to two other members. At one point, Knesset member Roni Bar-On, today a minister in the government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, suggested that the guidelines and their secrecy were undemocratic. Bar-On, who has yet to discuss the hearing in public, protested Mazuz's insistence that nobody other than Eitan, who has refused to comment on the hearing, be allowed to see the document. "Guidelines regarding indictments are secret?" Bar-On asked. "What could guidelines that concern indictments contain? It's every person's basic right to know what are the guidelines of the attorney general or any other decision-making body." "I have a systematic problem," Bar-On added. "If they tell us that we Knesset members can't be privy to material that the state prosecutor and police have seen, then I'm not willing to play the game. I don't understand the purpose of our session. Is it to be able to say in due time that the constitution committee dealt with this?" Still, the committee, which did not hold a vote, was recorded as approving the government guidelines. Eitan said the guidelines related to the prosecution of minors, police treatment of violent protesters and charging demonstration leaders with sedition. "There were certainly issues that upset us," Knesset member Naomi Blumenthal, who also attended the secret session, told Israeljustice.com. In October 2005, Mazuz issued another set of guidelines on the treatment of those practicing civil disobedience against the government's withdrawal policy. The document authorized the dismissal of charges against protesters who did not employ violence or minors without a prior criminal record. But attorneys for the Jewish detainees said the prosecution has ignored the new guidelines and still operate according to the draconian regulations approved in August 2005. They said prosecutors continue to indict minors and others on trivial charges. "The judges do not throw out cases on the basis of 'deminimus,'" attorney Eytan Lehman, referring to the principle that the judicial system does not prosecute trivial charges, said. "They rely on the authority of the prosecutor and his judgement. There is no supervision in the attorney general's office as to whether they abided by the guidelines or not."

That's the Law being used to jail and deprive people from living in their homes in Eretz Yisrael.

Thursday, December 28, 2006

A Bus Ride – Part of the Intifada that is NOT ReportedBy Catriel Sugarman

It was a warm evening on Thursday, December 15 and I was giving a lecture that night to the Ra’anana Community Kollel. One hundred “modern orthodox” families were spending a “long Shabbat” weekend together at the Nevei Élan Hotel in Ma’alei Chamishi and I was to speak that night on the Beit Hamikdash. Contrary to my usual “custom”, I arrived at the Tachanah Mercazit of Jerusalem (Central Bus Station) with plenty of time to spare. For those who are not familiar with Israeli reality, the security surrounding the Tachanah Mercazit in Jerusalem is similar to that of an airport! After waiting in line for ten minutes, I finally succeeded in inching my way to one of the entrances of the building. Buffeted by people on all sides, I assured a security man that I had no weapons and dropped my backpack on a stand. Placing my wallet and coins in a small container on the side, I went through a “metal-sensitive electric gate”, and a guard passed a metal detector over my body. Despite all my precautions, I set off the alarm and a red light went on. Suspiciously, the security man called me back and asked me if I “had anything else” and glared at a bulge in my front breast pocket. It was my seldom-used cell phone. With a sheepish grin, I removed the offending instrument and placed it in the side container on top of my wallet. This time I managed to stride through the “metal-sensitive electric gate” without arousing its fury. Collecting my wallet, coins, keys and cell phone, I followed the line to the right. Under the watchful eye of more security men, I placed my backpack on a moving ramp that slowly passed under an X – ray machine operated by a soldier. Apparently, the contents of my bag, a laptop, a mouse, various electrical wires, a pointer, and a couple of notebooks held no interest for him and he waved me through. Having (thankfully) passed the final barrier, I retrieved my backpack and entered the massive stone and blue Tachanah Mercazit.

Climbing a few stairs, I quickly came to the escalators that took me to the Bus Departure Area on the third floor where I found Retzif (platform) 17 without any difficulty. Bus 185 services a number of communities in the “Jerusalem Corridor”, Ma’ale Hachamisha, Kiryat Anavim, Telz Stone, Abu Gush and last but not least, the Nevei Élan Hotel. As departure hour approached, I was surprised that there were almost no people waiting for the bus. When the bus left the station, only a handful of people were aboard. Ensconced in the first seat, I turned around and looked towards the back; almost all the seats were empty! I did not realize it at the time, but unlike most intercity busses in Israel, the 185 does not leave the city right away; it first picks up passengers in town. After exiting the station, the bus drove down Rechov Malchei Yisrael picking up passengers on the way and soon entered the bustling Ge’ula section and more people got on. Boarding the rapidly filling bus were bearded patriarchs with Gemarot, suited Yeshiva students with black hats, a group of young women carrying books who looked like they going to a Shi’ur together, boys with Pe’ot, girls with pigtails, and mothers with babies. As we continued down Rechov Yechezkel and up Rechov Yaffo, more people came through the swinging doors; obstreperous teenagers with backpacks, old women burdened down with bags of fruit and vegetables that they had bought in Machaneh Yehuda, the odd soldier. By the time we passed Binyanei Ha’umah on our way out of Jerusalem, there was standing room only. I was very happy to have my front row seat. Making its way through the pine covered Judean Hills, the bus made its scheduled stops, and people started getting off. There were seats for all.Then we got to Abu Gush and four young Arabs got off the bus. They had been sitting quietly in the last row; no one had paid attention to them. When they got off the bus, they did not use the rear door. They walked the entire length of the bus and got off in the front. The driver then closed the door and the bus started to move. A couple of minutes later, everyone in the back of the bus started to cough violently. And then, the people in the seats ahead of them starting to cough, and then the people seated ahead of them! Babies were wailing. The “wave” of coughing was moving to the front of the bus! Then my throat started feeling raw and I too began to cough violently. Because I was in the front of the bus, I was the last one in the bus to start coughing. People started screaming, “Open the windows and stop the bus!” The driver, taking in the situation at a glance, did not have to be told twice! He stopped the bus, opened the doors, and choking, we all jumped out. Gasping, we filled our lungs with fresh air. It seemed like everybody pulled out cell phones and called their husbands and wives to come and get them. The driver called the police. Milling around under the stars, it took a few minutes for us to understand what happened.

When the four Arabs had gotten off the darkened bus, they had sprayed pepper-spray on the floor. That way it took a couple of minutes for it to take effect, allowing them to get off the bus and vanish into the night. While we were waiting for rides (someone was kind enough to take me to the hotel), a woman explained that in the previous two weeks, there had been three incidents of one kind or another on that line; this had been the most serious. The police did not express much interest.

I began thinking. What would have happened if the perpetrators of this attack – and there is no other word for it - would have used, or had been furnished with a more powerful poison? A whole busload of Jews, men, woman and children, could easily have been gassed! Our enemies are ruthless and their hatred for us is infinite! Perhaps this attack was a “dry run”. Maybe “someone” was training the perpetrators for a more serious attack. When they were spraying the mace, did anyone notice them? How long did it take? Could they get off the bus undetected? Who debriefed them?

I was still coughing when I gave my lecture. On the way home, I had a lot to think about.

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

We have been praying for rain. Although the winter started off looking good, with more than the average amount of rain starting relatively early, Tzom Gedalia, a few weeks ago, we all realized that not enough rain had fallen in Eretz Yisrael. So we have added a special prayer to ask G-d to grant us rain.

Here in The Land of Israel, the quantity of rain depends on our behavior, how we respect G-d's Laws. Considering the political situation, it hasn't been a surprise at all that we're suffering a from a drought. As a People, we deserve it.

When the Israeli news began predicting strong rain, and even snow in the mountains, I was rather doubtful. But when I'm wrong, I admit it. Yes, it did rain today, and it has even been snowing. But more important. Today another few hundred olim chadashim, new immigrants, came to Israel.

They came with the help of Nefesh B'Nefesh and included its 10,000th immigrant! Among those who went out in the rain to greet them was Natan Sharansky.

Every Jew who makes aliya is a blessing for us all. And every drop of rain which falls is a gift from G-d, another blessing.

Yes, today we were doubly blessed.

Actually, I think that G-d allowed it to rain to thank those involved with aliya. The people who come, those who facilitate their arrival and those who help them adjust, become absorbed into the country.

I didn't see anyone kiss the ground today, but G-d's tears of joy blended with ours.

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Our TV reception is back, and I was getting very annoyed at all the politicians and pundits expounding on how Israel can and should "make peace" with Israel.Honestly, take a good look at what's really happening on the ground and the airwaves and media etc. Israel is "at peace" with Syria. It isn't attacking and doesn't want to attack.So, what's standing in the way of peace with Syria, or "peace" with any other Arab country?If they want peace, there's one very simple thing for them to do. Stop attacking Israel. Yes, since it's a one-sided war, with all the agression coming from the Arabs, Israel shouldln't do anything but wait and defend itself, of course, when necessary.

And yes, I do think that on the southern front, it's time for Israel to admit that the ceasefire was a dangerous risk and is a farce. The Arabs keep attacking, launching kasaams at Sderot, the Negev and Ashkelon. Just minutes ago, two innocent Israelis were injured.Sderot: 2 moderately to severely hurt by Qassam

Yesterday morning I was getting ready to leave our Beit Hadassah apartment. It was just after eight. At 8:30 I usually spend about half an hour learning with my friend Rabbi Yisrael Shlissel in the Ohr Shlomo Kollel (Torah study hall) in Tel Rumeida. My cell phone rang. It was Rabbi Yisrael: "We won't be able to study together this morning. The police are all over the neighborhood. I think they're looking for my wife. They were wandering around on our porch. I don't want to leave the house." I, of course, asked: "Why do they want Tzippy?" "I have no idea," he responded.

I drove up to Tel Rumeida to see what was happening. On the way up the hill the police car was making its way down. However, two cops were still in the neighborhood. "Who are you looking for today," I queried? Their answer: "Who are you? Where is your ID card? Show me your driver's license." After carefully examining them, they ignored me. Someone else started yelling at them: "Who are you looking for today – our children. When was the last time you caught a terrorist, a murderer?"

After I while I left, and a few hours later drove up to Kiryat Arba. Who was just inside the town gate, waiting to greet me? You guessed. Another police car, signaling me to pull over to the side of the road. The cop gave my car and my passenger a good once-over, and then, not having discovered what, or who, he was searching for, smiled a cute smile and told me to have a good day. Thanks a lot.

I later heard that the police were swarming around the outside gate of the girl's religious high school building.

Early afternoon. My daughter's friend and classmate, Bitya Shlissel, fifteen years old, was walking from the high school to the lunch room, a few minutes away. Together with a couple of other girls they walked past a group of plain-clothed detectives. Suddenly a police car stopped behind them and one of the detectives yelled, "Batya, get over here fast!" Bitya's two friends, being experienced in such matters, quickly grabbed her arm and started pulling her, just as the detective caught her other arm and too began tugging. Bitya had enough. She told her friends, "why should they arrest you too?" and they let her go. The detective threw her into the back of the car and sped off with his criminal of the day. A fifteen year old tenth grader.

Not just any tenth grader. Bitya is the grand daughter of Rabbi Shlomo Ra'anan, who was murdered by terrorists in Tel Rumeida over eight years ago. Sixty three at the time of his death, Rabbi Ra'anan was the grandson of Israel's first Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Avraham Kook. Her parents, Rabbi Yisrael and Tzippy, moved to Hebron following the killing and the Rabbi became the dean of the new study hall, opened in his father-in-law's memory.

The Shlissels lived in the Mitzpe Shalhevet neighborhood, formerly the "Arab Shuk" or market. Until they were expelled, with eight other families almost a year ago. A short time later they moved into the newly purchased Beit Shapira, not far from their old home. There too, they were expelled by the police, with several other families. One can image that the kids haven't had an easy time of it. And yesterday, Bitya found herself being dragged away by the police.

At the Kiryat Arba police station, when asked her name, Bitya responded. However, when they police started with other questions, she ignored them.

As a rule, a person who is to be interrogated is presented with an official request to appear for questioning. No such order had ever been issued to Bitya or her parents. She had no idea why she had been swooped up by the police while on her way to lunch.

The police packed her into another car and drove the fifteen year old to Jerusalem for further questioning. Only then did Bitya understand why she'd been kidnapped by the police.

Last summer three Hebron girls, Bitya's friends, were being held in prison as the result of a demonstration in Hebron. One night Bitya and a few of her friends staged a demonstration by the home of Supreme Court Justice Ayala Prokatchia, who was instrumental in keeping the girls in jail. The girls hung some signs outside and chanted some slogans before being chased away by the police. As a result of this demonstration, an arrest warrant was issued against Bitya Shlissel on July 2, 2006 and charged her with: threatening and offending a public servant, trespass, and inciting violence or terror. It seems that yesterday the police suddenly remembered that the warrant had been issued a half a year ago and decided to act quickly, before the terrorist criminal could escape. So, Bitya was arrested. Of course, her parents weren't notified until after the fact, when she was already in Jerusalem.

Bitya told me that during the interrogation she kept her eyes on one of the plants in room and refused to say anything. When the police woman questioning her became bored with her answers, she told her she could go home after her parents came and signed a bond note guaranteeing her appearance in court. Bitya told her: "No way are my parents coming here to sign anything." The police woman then called Bitya's mother, Tzippy, who, as you might imagine, had nothing good to say to her. So the police finally agreed to allow Bitya to sign for herself, and then led her to the door.

"Wait," she exclaimed, "how am I supposed to get home? I don't have any money or anything. You swiped me from the street on the way to lunch." The police response: Our only responsibility is to notify your parents. It's your problem how you get back home. Period!

After a while one of the Shlissels' neighbors, who was in Jerusalem, picked Bitya up and drove her home for a belated lunch and dinner.

There is nothing worse than having a seriously ill child. Amber's parents Bagel Blogger and Baleboosteh share with us their feelings. Refuah Shleimah, and may G-d give our two friends the strength to deal with it all and give all their children lots of love and support.

Now, I'm sure that you never expected to see an interview with Santa in Havel Havelim, and I must admit that I certainly never expected to include one, but this isn't your everyday Santa; this is a Santa like you've never met before, but then again, what do you expect from The Bagel Blogger?

The term “Havel Havelim” is from Kohelet, Ecclesiastes, which was written by King Solomon, who built the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and later on got all bogged down in materialism and other “excesses” and finally realized that it was nothing but norishkeit, “havel” or in English “vanities.” I think that King Solomon and his father King David were the original "bloggers." The books they wrote, when you take them chapter by chapter, can easily be described as blog posts. The stones they used to write on made them last, so that we can read them now. I doubt if today's technology will give our words any lasting effect.

Next week's host is Bagel Blogger. Please note that to make #100 special we're asking everyone to submit a post from this year and, if they have it, a post from last year.

Send your links for the next edition of Havel Havelim via blog carnival, and at the same time you may discover other “carnivals” to visit and enter. You can also use those forms to send kosher recipes and other kosher food posts to the Kosher Cooking Carnival. Blog carnival also has a great listing of recent carnivals for your sidebar. You can either get one for a specific carnival, like HH or KCC, or a general one.

Thanks to Soccer Dad for his hard work keeping this going, and if you want to host, please let him know at dhgerstman at hotmail dot com.

This appears in the UberCarnival. Please put up a blurb on your site alerting readers to Havel Havelim. Thank you!

There's a wonderful article, which I'll post here at the end of this, going around emails and the internet about Menachem Begin and Shabbat. While I googled it, trying to find out its original publication link (which I didn't find), I discovered something else.The Jewish Agency has a timeline showing what happened each year. Here are some of the things that happened in 1982:

It seems ironic that Begin's famous defense of Shabbat was barely a week after his government destroyed Yamit and the other Jewish communities in the Sinai.

April 25 : Three years after the signing of the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt, the Sinai is completely turned over to Egypt. The inhabitants of Yamit who refuse to leave, together with their supporters, are evacuated by force. Bulldozers raze the town. "The town looked as if an atomic bomb hit it." Egypt had offered 50 million dollar for the lot, but Israel had refused. The decision to destroy the settlements is made by Begin, on Defense Minister Sharon's prompting. One issue remains unsolved - the status of the Taba area, just south of Eilat.April: Israel charges the PLO for two minings on the border, a bombing in Ashkelon, and a bus-bombing in Jerusalem.May 2: Implementing one aspect of the coalition agreement with the religious parties, the government announces that El Al will cease flying on Shabbat.

And then, a little later:

June 4 - 5 : Israeli armed forces bomb and shell Arab terrorist positions from southern Lebanon all the way to Beirut. The PLO retaliates with rocket and artillery shelling of 23 Israeli settlements in western and northern Galilee and of Major Saad Haddad's enclave in Lebanon.June 6 : Israel launches "Operation Peace for Galilee".

Menachem Begin was a very complex personality. it was clear that he loved Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Israel, and he was deeply religious, even though he didn't wear a kippah full-time, nor did he join any of the religious parties. For many of us his decision to give Sinai to Egypt and destroy Jewish communities was both unforgivable and incomprehensible.

Personally, I'm very "uncomfortable" when his "peace treaty" is praised by the Begin Center. I think that it was his fatal mistake and the cause of his later depression. He tried to justify it by saying that part of the agreement was a guarantee to preserve and increase Jewish settlement in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip, but the truth is that his destruction of Jewish settlement in Sinai is used as the justification for Disengagement and all of the demands to destroy Jewish communities in the same Judea and Samaria.He's now in Olam Haba, the Next World, and G-d is the only one to tally his fate.El Al on Shabbos: Menachem Begin

by Yehudah Avner

The possible renewal of Saturday flights in the wake of c calls to mind a Knesset oration of yesteryear.

He was waylaid by a union man who placed an amicable arm around hisshoulder, jabbed a forefinger into his chest and barked into his face sogrimacingly that his head was jerked backwards as if to have the argumentsshoved physically down his throat.

This was on May 3, 1982, the day premier Begin limped into a crowded Knessetchamber tense with expectancy. He was in pain, recovering from a severe hipinjury, and it was with heavy, purposeful steps that he mounted the tribuneto deliver his El Al speech. He began quietly, factually, declaring that thegovernment had finally decided to halt all El Al flights on Shabbat andfestivals - a revelation that sent eyes glaring and hatreds flashing in thepublic gallery where the union men sat.

Simultaneously, a sudden restlessness seized the opposition benches, whicherupted into a paroxysm of heckling: "So why don't you shut down TV onShabbat, too?" screamed one. "What about football matches on Shabbat?"bawled another.

"Are you going to stop Jewish merchant ships at sea, too?" shouted a third.This spasm of derision fazed the premier not one little bit. On thecontrary, it supplied him with new inspirations of vitriolic wit.

"Shout as much as you will," he ribbed, his deep-set, bespectacled eyesscanning the opposition faces with scorn, his gaze finally settling on theyoung, secular, radical left-winger Yossi Sarid.

"I have nothing to say to you and your kind, Mr. Sarid," he said, with aglance that could wither. "In fact, I have nothing to say to anyone whosupports a Palestinian state that is a mortal danger to our people."

And then, changing tone, pitching his voice to a muted, sonorous, tremblingpitch, this man who believed in oratory as the supreme artful weapon, amatter of style, cadence, and the application of controlled but massiveintellectual energy, intoned: "Forty years ago I returned from exile toEretz Yisrael. Engraved in my memory still are the lives of millions ofJews, simple, ordinary folk, eking out a livelihood in that forlorn Diasporawhere the storms of anti-Semitism raged.

"They were not permitted to work on the Christian day of rest, and theyrefused to work on their day of rest. For they lived by the commandment,'Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.' "So each week they forswore twowhole days of hard-won bread. This meant destitution for many. But theywould not desecrate the Sabbath day." "So, stop football on Shabbat, too?"butted in Sarid provocatively, triggering off another squall of jeers,hissing, and name-calling.

Adroitly, to the delight of his supporters, Menachem Begin put his power ofmimicry to full use by calmly raising his right hand as if to catch a ball,tossed it back, and resumed his rhetorical flow: "Shabbat is one of theloftiest values in all of humanity," he said, his voice husky with emotion."It originated with us. It is all ours. No other civilization in historyknew of a day of rest. "Ancient Egypt had a great culture whose treasuresare on view to this day, yet the Egypt of antiquity did not know of a day ofrest. The Greeks of old excelled in philosophy and the arts, yet they didnot know of a day of rest. " Rome established mighty empires and instituted asystem of law still relevant to this day, yet they did not know of a day of rest. Neither did thecivilizations of Assyria, Babylon , Persia , India , China - none of them knew of a day of rest."

"So, put on a yarmulke," sneered Sarid.

"Hutzpa!" boomed Begin, bristling. "I speak of our people's most hallowedvalues, and you dare stoop to mockery. Shame on you!" Then, arms up, fistsballed, he thundered with the devotion of a disciple and the fire of achampion: "One nation alone sanctified the Shabbat, a small nation, thenation that heard the voice at Sinai, ' so that your man-servant and yourmaid-servant may rest as well as you.' "Ours was the nation that enthronedShabbat as sovereign Queen."

A crescendo of approval from the government benches sent the raftersrattling, muffling every last vestige of dissent. And he, the GreatCommoner, idol of the common folk, caught up on the wave of his ownenthusiasm and sense of mission, rose to a pitch of almost uncontrollablefervor, and thundered on: "So, are we in our own reborn Jewish state toallow our blue-and-white El Al planes to fly to and fro as if broadcastingto the world that there is no Shabbat in Israel ? Should we, who by faith andtradition heard the commandment at Sinai, now deliver a message to all andsundry through our blue-and-white El Al planes - 'No, don't remember theSabbath day. Forget the Sabbath day! Desecrate the Sabbath day.' "I shudderat the thought."

The ensuing ruckus was terrific. The speaker sat ham-fisted, vainly banginghis gavel, which thudded as soundlessly as a velvet mallet. So Begin himselfraised his palms and then lowered them gently, once, twice, thrice, untilthe furor quietened of itself. Whereupon, to hammer his point home, hequoted the words of the celebrated secular philosopher of early Zionism,Ahad Ha'am: "More than the Jews kept the Sabbath day, the Sabbath day keptthe Jews."

With that, he raised his eyes to the public gallery and vouchsafed itsoccupants an intensely solemn stare. "Let me say this to the good workers ofEl Al," he told the crowd. "The government has been the object of threats.We disregard them. In a democracy, government decisions are not made underthreat." And then, like a sudden bugle call to historical grandeur, heperorated with compelling passion: "Know this: We cannot assess thereligious, national, social, historical, and ethical values of the Sabbathday by the yardstick of financial loss or gain. In our revived Jewish statewe simply cannot engage in such calculations when dealing with an eternaland cardinal value of the Jewish people - Shabbat - for which our ancestorswere ready to give their lives. "One thing more. One need not be a pious Jewto accept this principle. One need only be a Jew."

The writer was on the personal staff of four prime ministers, including Menachem Begin.

Saturday, December 23, 2006

I CANNOT conclude this column honestly without coming clean about my own past practices as an instant pundit. Though my Jerusalem Post track record hasn't been that bad, a few glaring mistakes stand out. Three of these are particularly embarrassing. Despite the fact that no one actually took me to task for them, I'm now inviting your ridicule by pointing them out.

In January, immediately after Ariel Sharon's second debilitating stroke, I predicted that the Kadima leadership would not gather around his replacement, Ehud Olmert, and that a succession battle would sink the nascent party.

On the eve of the election, I advised readers not to vote for the Pensioners Party, confidently asserting that since it had no chance of passing the electoral threshold, a vote for it would be wasted.

Before the cease fire at the end of this summer's war, I wrote that the government's days were numbered, due to its having been discredited and by its being left with no agenda following the demise of the realignment plan.

The first two of these predictions were quickly confounded. As for the third: It is four and a half months later, and the government is not only still here, but no one is prepared to make any more bets on its imminent fall.

The media makes mistakes! wow! He's a brave man to admit it.

What about the weather? Accordinging to the experts, it was supposed to rain all day today. I didn't notice any, though it did rain last night. And they're also predicting some snow on Wednesday. I checked a couple of weather sites and it probably won't be more than flurries. That is unless they're wrong. And if they're wrong, two things--oops! no, three things could happen. Either it won't snow, but it'll rain, or it'll be real stormy, and that could mean either rain or snow.Last year there were some serious rain predictions by the Israel Meterological Service, and the Jerusalem city workers were all on alert, equipment was set up, and-- no snow. And the TV was also on alert, searching for snow flakes to interview.Yes, some people made lots of money off the the snowless snow.Maybe it would be better not to predict at all and just take each day as a surprise and a blessing.

Friday, December 22, 2006

... I must react or I'll explode.I certainly can't defend our country with just my words, but it's not going to do me any good to remain silent.Israel is being attacked, and its government thinks that acting like helpless nebichs will help save us. Sounds like fiction, yes, it does, but I don't write fiction.

*referring to highlighted part of articleThis entire concept is faulty. There is no such thing as "diplomatic credit." We can only depend on ourselves and G-d. It's immature and irresponsible for the politicians to expect the world to save us. Back to that ghetto mentality. "pity me, pity me"We have a state because G-d wanted us to, not because six million Jews were murdered by the Nazis or that the UN voted its approval.

Two rockets slammed into Sderot Thursday, one of them striking a community center and another hitting an empty bus. Three people were injured by shrapnel or otherwise, and heavy damage was sustained. Another rocket frighteningly awakened city residents early Friday morning.

A separate attack on Thursday hit the port city of Ashkelon. The city is home to strategic oil and gas pipelines and a large electric power plant.

Some 45 Kassam rockets have been launched from Gaza against Israel since the November 26 truce went into effect, according to remarks made by Prime Minister Olmert Thursday afternoon.

*HaNegbi supported Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's policy of restraint on the assumption that it will give Israel a diplomatic advantage. He said the world will give Israel more "diplomatic credit" Israel for having held its end of the Gaza ceasefire obligation despite the incessant attacks against her.

The Prime Minister has withstood pressure from government ministers who have said "enough is enough" and that the time has come to strike back. Infrastructures Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer (Labor), a former senior IDF officer and ex-Defense Minister, said that "time has run out" for Abbas. Defense Minister Peretz, a resident of Sderot whose bodyguard lost his legs last month in a Kassam rocket attack, also asserted that the policy of restraint should be re-examined.

Opposition leader ex-Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu called on the Prime Minister Thursday night to "free the IDF's hands" and resume counter-terrorist operations. "It is not the nation that is tired," Netanyahu said. "Olmert is tired. There is only one thing worse than a nation that has lost faith in its leaders, and that is leaders who have lost faith in their nation. I call on the Prime Minister to put an end to this restraint. It’s absurd that we are tying our own hands on this matter."

Speaking to a Likud gathering, Netanyahu asserted, "A leader needs to be an active authority, not a passive one [of] restraint and inaction."

Minister Rafi Eitan of the Pensioners Party predicted that Israel's restraint will end "sooner or later," and when it does, "it must be done in a way that will be interpreted by the world as an unavoidable option."

The security mini-cabinet will convene on Sunday to discuss the continued policy of restraint.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Olmert and Abbas say they are anxious to meet with each other before U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visits the region in January.

"If it's possible to make [Abbas] happy and make me happy, then I can't see a reason not to [meet], and hope that it will happen very soon," Olmert said Thursday.

The PA news agency, Ma'an, reported that a meeting would be held this Monday, but Olmert's office has denied it and Abbas has not confirmed it.